Independence Day always fills me with gratitude and awe. Our nation’s founding fathers - the courageous leaders who constructed, with incredible foresight, the greatest economic and humanitarian experiment in modern times – could never have foreseen its monumental success.
They surely weren’t thinking of spawning automobiles, airplanes, rockets, computers, bioengineering, cell phones or the internet when they framed the Constitution, but they are responsible for them all. Almost all innovation in the world occurs in the United States.
In allowing individuals to keep the fruits of their labor, worship freely, and speak their minds without fear of persecution, our nation’s founding fathers unleashed the infinite power of human ingenuity and began a revolution that has reshaped the world.
Their concept of a constitutional republic - in which governance is based on the rule of law (rather than the rule of the majority) and individuals have inalienable rights (basic freedoms that cannot be taken away) - works.
There is a caveat, however: Guardians of the republic must have the integrity to obey the law and the courage to enforce it.
Unfortunately, since the early 1900s, our elected representatives and appointed judges have shown more of a penchant for legal convenience than constitutional construct. And our liberties have been slowing slipping away.
(I’d like to think our forefathers actually read the Declaration of Independence before they signed it.)
When the leader of the free world demonstrates more concern for light bulbs than liberties and aligns himself with the most oppressive heads of state, the free world is in serious trouble.
History indicates democracies - of which a constitutional republic is an offshoot - have a lifespan of approximately 200 years after which they fall under the weight of succeeding generations who prefer to be bottle-fed by Big Brother rather than exert the effort required to retain their liberty.
History also indicates that Big Brother is a poor keeper and, as a result, those who willingly trade their freedom for a sense of security, in the end, have neither.
An educated and informed populace, believed Thomas Jefferson, is the “only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”
(As education goes, so goes the nation.)
Samuel Adams felt the same way. "No people,” he said, “will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued when knowledge is diffused and virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders."
If we sink, it will be no one’s fault but our own.
As you celebrate Independence Day this year, consider making a contribution to your freedom. Pay attention to current events. Read. If you’ve never e-mailed or phoned your elected representatives to voice your opinion, start today. (Representative’s names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses can easily be found on the internet.) Write a letter to the editor.
Our founding fathers sacrificed their livelihoods and their lives to provide for and preserve our freedom - it’s the least we can do.
God truly blessed America. On this Independence Day, may we find the integrity and courage within to remain the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Gina Perry writes a political column for the Daily Sound that appears every other Thursday.
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Gina Perry : 7/2/2009
Thanks for the nonsense and all the following footnotes. WHEREAS. cruising State Street in the outdated family wagon spewing obviously unhealthful smoky exhaust and noise contained "people are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders." Put that jalopy in a museum for chrisssakes.
Jesus
Why Gina Perry? : 7/4/2009
The anti-Obama faction has its own TV network, endless radio hours, and ready access to the nation's OpEd pages. Why does a local community newspaper waste space on the childish ignorance and rattle-brained opinions of Gina Perry? I suppose you might reply that giving this person a platform has something to do with allowing a diversity of voices to be heard, but it would be useful if the Sound could explain why you believe that Perry's voice in particular is worth hearing.
pk
Write On, Gina! : 7/4/2009
One....only ONE conservative voice locally, hardly threatening, and the libtards cannot not handle it. Burn the witch, they chant. Heretic! Get a clue, progressive nutters....we are NOT going away. You cannot take our vojce away
Jeff Smith
Group therapy for right-wing whiners : 7/4/2009
It shouldn't be the role of a local community paper to reassure irrational Obama-haters that they aren't alone. If you need that kind of therapy, sit in a circle, hold hands, and listen to Limbaugh, watch Fox, read Malkin, and pray that Sarah will save you. The Daily Sound provides no service to local readers by publishing ignorant regurgitations of readily available right-wing talking points.
pk
Go Gina! : 7/7/2009
PK, you are the epitome of the very narrow minded, shallow and ignorant political ideology you accuse your opponents of. You have most of the print media, broadcast, media, cable media, internet web casts and the federal government at your beck and call and whine about little ole Gina? You live in the most liberal city outside of San Francisco, where the most conservative people look like Karl Marx compared to the rest of the country and you’re complaining that someone uttered something remotely right of center? Take a deep breath and go look in the mirror, there is your enemy.
AN50
Looking. : 7/7/2009
Looked in the mirror, didn't see my enemy. Looked at the national media, saw mostly corporate hacks and pundits interested in protecting their profits and their status as players in the establishment game, not ideology. Looked at the Daily Sound, saw an ignorant parrot squawking more than "remotely" right-of-center abuse and wasting space in a local paper that should be covering community issues. Sorry if the country that most of us actually live in elected Obama; as I said, if you need group therapy to deal with it, plenty is available. There's no need for the Sound to be expending ink telling you what Limbaugh, Malkin, Kristol, OReilly, Hannity, et al. are passing along this week.
pk
Pot or Kettle : 7/15/2009
PK, you poor misguided slave to the left wing indoctrination camps, are the Obama haters you refer to any different than your Bush haters? Just checking, because we all know you libs are so tolerant and filled with compassion for your fellow man. Oh, that’s right; you’re more like the Third Reich in your tolerance and compassion, only for the master race, or political persuasion in this case, huh. So looking at what you wrote here and by golly not one wit of anything other than some rant against people espousing a different point of view. Nope, no argument of salient points, no argument of philosophical differences just pure un-adulterated slander. Can’t see where you are making a case for anything except silencing your own waste of verbage.
AN50
Kettlehead : 7/16/2009
My comment was not intended to offer a rebuttal of Perry's right-wing talking points, but to ask the editors of the Daily Sound why they felt it was useful to reprint such readily available propaganda in a local community newspaper. When someone is less interested in engaging in political discussion than in making stupid asides like "When the leader of the free world demonstrates more concern for light bulbs than liberties and aligns himself with the most oppressive heads of state, the free world is in serious trouble," is there really any point in trying to offer a reasoned philosophical response? Hold on to your Palinesque bitterness. It's all you have..
pk
More like the kettle lid : 7/20/2009
Well that was certainly a wise and thoughtful response. I don’t like what she said so I now deem it stupid and unworthy of my consideration. Yup, see where yer headed.
AN50
aiming to please : 7/20/2009
Perry didn't make a political argument, she just tossed out some snide remarks. Since you operate at the same level of sophistication as she does and believe that her comments actually add to the political discussion, OK, I'll engage them: "No, Obama doesn't care more for light bulbs than liberty." "No he doesn't align himself with the most oppressive heads of state." Satisfied?
pk
There are MANY "conservative" liars locally. : 8/17/2009
"One....only ONE conservative voice locally" Typical right wing lie.
ianam
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